Rafael got up with the sun, as he had done every day since he had bonded his spirit plant. On this Sunday in September, that meant seven in the morning. The skylight of his room was wide open, letting in fresh air and the scent of nature. He could feel autumn approaching, but for now it was still summer, and he was stronger than ever.

Rafael went outside without bothering to eat breakfast, and started running barefoot towards the park. He would absorb sunlight as he ran to regenerate and refine his energy. This ability allowed him to run faster and longer, so he could doubled the length of his runs.

Rafael's magic amulet fluttered against his chest with each stride. It was really part of him now, and never left his side. When he took it off, it was as if his senses were dulled, and the weakened contact with his spirit plant made him uncomfortable.

Rafael arrived in the forest. He could smell every flower, the roots of every tree, the rustle of every leaf. His run was like a trance, he fed all the plants around him with his spiritual energy, and in exchange his plant spirit and his body became stronger.

Not to mention that the mutated plants would then be used by the Alchemist to create ointments for the Association.

He felt so good that sometimes he wanted to plant roots here and live like a tree for a few years. It must been nice. To live according to the seasons, following the moods of the sky, and without any worries about human dramas.

Sometimes, the weight of the promise he had made to his uncle was suffocating him. To make sure that the integration of shamanic magic into society went well? He did his best, but the task seemed insurmountable, and fraught with danger. He was not even twenty years old. How could he carry this out?

Rafael left the forest and took the path that led back to the park entrance. Now that he was moving away from the aura of tranquility of the plants, all his worries were returning. Tiffany's transformation had been... frightening. All shamans who had created a bond with their body could integrate their spirits into it, and transform themselves. He, for example, could adopt the physical characteristics of a tree.

It was a perilous process. The shaman became truly half spirit and half human, and if his will was not strong enough, he might never return to his normal form. Tiffany had completely lost control back there. It was only her love for Jay that had brought her back to reality. She might not be so lucky if it happened again...

What am I going to do if Tiffany becomes an out-of-control vampire?

At least with Dino, he had a clear view of the situation. He had betrayed them, attacked them, the only possible answer was to fight back until the threat was gone once and for all. But if one of his friends lost control, would he be able to take the appropriate action? He wasn't sure if he could neutralize them without damage so he could use one of his mistletoe seeds. His stomach hurt just thinking about harming them.

Tiffany doesn't deserve this, none of us do.

When Rafael arrived in sight of his house, he was revitalized by his run, but mentally disturbed. He hadn't felt like this since Leonard's death. This was not a good state of mind for a shaman. Problems could quickly pile up if one wasn't stable. He'd have to find time for a quick meditation session during the day.

"Hey Rafe," Ilona called out.

She was waiting for him outside his house. It was not the first time that she had made this move, but curiously he did not care anymore. His problems with Ilona seemed far away now, he had other more important, and more immediate things to worry about.

Her style had changed a lot during the summer. Before she was always dressed up, elegant, as if ready to go to a social event, or a photo shoot. But now she was dressed in black leather pants, and with a simple white shirt, no jewelry. Her eternal bun had disappeared, and her hair hung freely on her shoulders, letting see her beautiful blond curls. Moreover, the air around her was so hot that it was blurry.

And of course, there was her right eye that would never open again.

Rafael could see that what she had experienced with the priest, and during her trip to Indonesia, had affected her deeply. She had gained confidence in herself. That meant she was no longer trying to hide her weaknesses at all costs... and thus Rafael's protective instincts inexorably drove him back to her.

"Hi, aren't you at the hospital?" asked Rafael as he stopped next to her.

"No, Hippolyte and Borka are there, and the doctor said Tiffany and Jay would be able to leave this afternoon anyway."

"That's good news."

Ilona nodded, then added, "I want to come with you to hunt Dino."

"No, it's too dangerous,” Rafael replied. “You just bound your spirit, and we still don't know what Dino's after. I don't want you to get hurt again—"

Ilona's eyes glowed with anger. "I am not useless, nor a pretty doll to be kept under glass,. If you don't let me come with you, I'll go alone!"

Rafael recoiled at this sudden outburst. Why didn't she understand that he was saying this because he cared about her, and was afraid she would get hurt again? He would have agreed if she had simply explained how important it was to her. She didn't need to be so aggressive…

"Okay, you're coming," Rafael said through clenched teeth. "I have an appointment with Inspector Martinez at nine to interview a journalist who might be able to tip us about Dino. It's a long shot, but we need to explore every leads."

"What about the owner of the Bodega?" asked Ilona.

Rafael raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I talked to Jazz," she justified herself. "He told me that Dino was scheming with him at the nightclub."

"It's more complicated," Rafael admitted. "I don't have his home address, and he's a city personality. He knows the mayor, the police commissioner... if we approach him directly, we'll only reap more problems."

Ilona nodded. "I trust you, you will find a solution."

God, this girl keeps blowing hot and cold.

Rafael didn't know what to say. He mumbled a thank you, then quickly went home to change. He couldn't show up in a tracksuit and bare feet to interrogate the journalist. Inspector Martinez would think he'd lost his mind. Their alliance was still fragile, and he didn't want to jeopardize it.

When he came out a few minutes later, Rafael caught Ilona playing with a lighter. A small flame appeared and disappeared while her fingers nervously operated the mechanism. What was she doing with it? She had never smoked.

Seeing him, she quickly tucked the lighter into her pocket with an embarrassed smile.

"Will you take me?" she asked.

For a moment, Rafael wondered if the whole thing about chasing Dino was just an excuse to get on the motorcycle with him. A strategy to bring them back together. That thought made him feel bad. Ilona had changed, and her feelings towards Tiffany were sincere. He had seen it in her eye the day before. She wanted revenge as much as he did.

And it would please her father too much if he pushed her away.

He nodded at her, and she followed him to the garage, smiling. She grabbed the helmets, handed him his, and got with a smooth gesture on the bike he had just taken out. It had been a year since they had ridden together, and so much had happened... yet she had not lost her habits at all.

Rafael got on the bike in turn, fastening his helmet, and Ilona's arms immediately came around his chest. Her hands were burning. Rafael's breathing quickened. His heart began to beat wildly. God, he was even more attracted by his ex than before. This trip was going to be a real torture.

He started, and Ilona hugged him even tighter. Rafael had all the difficulty in the world to keep the bike upright. In a superhuman effort of will, he ignored the hot touch of Ilona's breasts on his back, and took the road towards the meeting point. Was she aware of how close she was to him? Did she know how it was driving him nuts?

By the time he reached the halfway point, Rafael had almost calmed down. He concentrated on driving, it helped him to ignore to some degree the presence of his ex, to keep under control the memory of their nights together that tried to resurface. But suddenly a car sped up to change lanes, and Rafael had to swerve. Ilona's hands twitched against him, taking him back into a flood of emotions that extinguished all his thoughts and self-control.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Getting off the bike after parking was a relief he was not sure he wanted anymore. He felt scarlet, and hoped that Inspector Martinez would not mention it. Rafael wanted him to take him seriously, not for a horny teenager.

He had actually no reason to worry because Diego wasn't there to see them arrive. Rafael checked the address, then looked around. He recognized the inspector's car down the street, and walked down to it so they could get started. Once he got closer, with Ilona in his wake, he saw that Diego Martinez was sleeping on his steering wheel.

Rafael knocked hard on the window, which woke Diego up with a start. He looked like shit. His eyes were dark and his clothes were wrinkled, it looked like he hadn't slept all night.

The inspector opened the door with a confused look, and apologized: "Sorry, I have problems at home..."

Rafael sympathized, but had too many problems himself to give time to the inspector's.

"Can we go now?" he asked.

"Yes, of course. Let me just put on my bulletproof vest."

Diego got out of his car, and opened the trunk to change. Rafael looked at Ilona, pensive, then asked the inspector:

"Do you have any for us?"

"No, I didn't have time to go to the police station, and anyway the equipment is strictly controlled. You'll let me go ahead. Everything should be fine."

With Dino's super speed, front or back is the same thing, Rafael thought. He would have to get that kind of protection. At least for Ilona, if she continued to want to follow him everywhere. On his side, he could transform his skin so that it became hard as wood. There were probably no bulletproof vests for sale on the Internet, but maybe on the Dark Web?

"Let's go," Diego said when he was ready.

The three of them walked up to the journalist's house, if you could call it a house. It was one of a series of tiny, attached, single-storey houses that would have been more deserving of the name apartments if they didn't all have separate entrances. The architecture of cities was weird sometimes. Why didn't they build high up to save space?

Diego stopped for a moment at the door to tell them:

"Let me talk as much as possible, I'm more used to conducting interrogations than you are. We don't want to scare him, or give him too much information about what we already know."

"Okay," Rafael replied laconically while Ilona remained silent.

Inspector Martinez finally knocked on the door. Robert Dwayne came to open it, but his eyes widened as soon as he saw Rafael.

"You, what are you doing here?" he shouted.

Rafael recognized him too. That man with the cap who had come to the Association meeting was him, the journalist! And if he had come the day before, that meant he must have known Dino. He was about to use his powers to make him talk, but he restrained himself. The inspector had said not to frighten him. It was probably better to hang back, but if Diego took too long to act, he would step up.

"Mr. Dwayne," said Inspector Diego Martinez, showing his police badge. "You are suspected of complicity with Dino Calderón in an attempted murder. I would like to ask you a few questions."

"What? No, that's not possible!" stammered Robert Dwayne.

"It's all very serious, sir," Diego confirmed.

"He tried to kill someone? But why?"

"Bring us in, and we can clear this up," Diego said.

Still in shock, the journalist stepped aside to let them through. After a short hallway, the entrance led directly into a small living room crowded with furniture with barely enough room to move around. Rafael, Ilona, and Diego sat on the couch, while Robert Dwayne settled into the armchair.

"How do you know Dino Calderón?" asked Diego.

Robert Dwayne gasped, then answered automatically, "I met him at church. He helped me write several articles, and then he more or less became one of my informants. He was mostly interested in the bonus, which is not very Christian if you ask me, but everyone moves at their own pace toward our Lord."

"Dino Calderón seems to be moving away from him," Diego remarked.

"Why did you come to the Association?" asked Rafael, impatient.

Diego looked at him with surprise, it was true that he had not had time to share this information with him. However, the inspector quickly recovered, and turned his iron gaze on the journalist who was having a hard time.

"It's Dino's fault," Robert Dwayne said in a panic. "He told me there was a good story to be written about a cult, that you were enrolling young people in unhealthy experiments. He was even convinced that you were doing real magic, and insisted on making it public. Of course, I soon realized that it was all nonsense... but he wouldn't let it go. Whatever he did, It had nothing to do with me!"

Real magic? Of course we do, Dino does it himself! He could have just shown him. What's all this about?

"He wanted you to go public with the existence of magic?" asked Diego, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, that's right!" cried Robert Dwayne. "He said he was going to grab the water gun to provide me with irrefutable evidence, he was completely delusional."

"And the owner of the Bodega, do you know him?" asked Ilona suddenly.

The journalist hastened to say, "The nightclub? No, is he the one Dino tried to kill?"

Ilona almost answered, but was interrupted by the vision of Diego silently shaking his head. Meanwhile, Robert Dwayne had realized something as he examined her face.

"I know you too," he said. "I saw you at the Association. You're the Delacroix girl who lost her eye in january."

Ilona squinted her eyes suspiciously. She had done her best to remain anonymous, and hadn't even gone to the trial. How did he know her?

"He's the journalist who interviewed me after Paulina's trial," Rafael told her.

"What?" cried Ilona. "The one who insinuated that you were sleeping with her?" She turned back to Robert Dwayne. "You bastard. Pervert!"

Black smoke rose from the couch and filled the entire room.

"What's going on?" shouted Robert Dwaye, coughing like a maniac.

"Calm down, Luna," Rafael said, putting his hand on his ex's shoulder.

"You don't realize," she replied through clenched teeth. "Everyone read this rag, it destroyed your reputation. My dad hasn't stopped talking to me about it all winter."

Her father? Oh, oh...

Diego had stood up holding his shirt in front of his nose. He shouted at Rafael:

"Get her out of here!"

Rafael forced Ilona to get up, and head for the exit. He had to call on his spiritual energy to strengthen his hands so they wouldn't burn on contact. Behind them, the couch had caught fire, and Diego was desperately trying to put it out with a blanket. Robert Dwayne cowered in the corner of the room, frightened.

Fortunately, Ilona managed to calm down once she was out in the open, and Diego to put out the fire. Robert Dwayne had followed them outside, but still seemed to be stunned. He kept repeating that he didn't understand what had happened.

Diego was exasperated. Apparently not wanting to linger here any longer, he asked to conclude the interview:

"At which church did you meet Dino Calderón?"

Robert Dwayne looked up at him, wiping his nose, which was black with soot, in passing, and then answered:

"At the Church of the Covenant. He's a member of the congregation, as I am."

This meant nothing to Rafael. There were few young people his age who were interested in religion, and even fewer among fantasy and magic enthusiasts. But Inspector Diego Martinez had frozen in place, white as a sheet.

"Do you know about it?" asked Rafael.

"Do I know the Church of the Covenant?" he growled. "They had brainwashed my wife, and destroyed my family!"